Is “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” the best policy available right now? Yeah, I know, seems like an incredibly biased thing to say, right? Well, you have to remember that there are at least two sides to every argument. One of the sides here is the actual active duty military. Now, I can only speak for the Marine Corps, as every branch of the military in the US is vastly different. General James Conway (the Commandant of the Marine Corps) posed a question to a gymnasium full of Marines in January ‘09 on Camp Lejeune, NC. He asked people to raise their hands if they were comfortable with gays openly serving in the military. Maybe 20 out of the hundreds of Marines there (including myself) raised their hands. Then he asked the other side. Landslide. Not even close.

So what does this mean? Are there simply a very large number of extremely biased people in the Marines? Is there that much actual hate and intolerance? No. The question winds up digging much deeper than that of a simple moral issue.

Based simply on morality, yes, gays should be allowed to openly participate in the military. Fair, right? Okay, well now here’s the hard part that no one ever seems to bring up (largely because most people have never served in any branch of the military): how do we handle that once we pass the law? How do you run Boot Camp? How do you organize barracks and room mates? These are real issues, and I challenge anyone to come up with an adequate solution.

In Boot Camp, everything is split up by sex. The males never see the females, except for at the rifle range and swim qualifications for a week, and then at the last two or three days for graduation. There is supposed to be no contact between you and the opposite sex to keep your mind focussed and disciplined. You can be stripped of rank and pay for over a month for even being seen holding hands with the opposite sex. This policy is carried over to Marine Combat Training, a month of extensive weapons and combat training which occurs right after boot camp and boot leave.

So what do you do if you start introducing gays openly into the military? You have a guy exposed to 60 or more other guys throughout boot camp. Now, I’m not worried about getting hit on in the mass showers we have to take, or being molested at night or anything, but there’s a certain amount of awkwardness and discomfort with knowing someone else there could be attracted to you.

Now, I tried explaining this to my girlfriend, and we came to a basic conclusion that guys and girls feel very differently (in general) about this issue. This is due to the fact that girls tend to be more open about their bodies to one another than guys are. Girls will be more likely to spend time going underwear shopping with each other than guys will. That kind of mentality proved to me that this is more of a guy issue. It is not an intolerance issue, however. This is just a case of the average male to male comfort zone.

Once you start looking at it from that perspective, and I cannot argue everything in this article alone, you can see that this is a far more complex issue than simply trying to be fair to gays. All I ask is that, if you decide to get in on this argument, you need to think beyond the easy decision and think about the consequences (good and bad) of the resultant decision. And hey, if you figure out a solution, by all means write it out and talk about it. I’d love to hear it. Until then, please don’t judge people’s views by what you see on the surface. Dig a little deeper and learn a little more, and we’ll hopefully be able to land on some common ground.

So last week I wrote the top 5 reasons for not joining, and I figured I’d balance the playing field. I mean, after all, there really are great advantages to being in the Marine Corps that you simply would not get anywhere else. So, here we go:

1) PAID Education. This isn’t just free, you get paid to learn your job, and on top of that they give you countless opportunities to expand what you are able to learn. By January 15th, I will have spent a year and a week being educated in the Marine Corps, paid all the way through, and gaining college credits for it. In addition, they offer free Harvard Business School courses through the Navy Knowledge Online website, as well as countless certifications and language courses. The Marine Corps recently made a deal with Rosetta Stone to offer 31 languages to all Marines online. The list goes on and on and on…

2) Job Security. Sure you can get kicked out, but it takes a LOT. For the most part, you’re almost guaranteed the job as long as you meet the physical standards (Boot Camp is hard, but always attainable), and you won’t get fired in a recession because the government needs to save money. There is always a need for Marines and always will be, war or not.

3) Future Set Up. This job will propel you to the front of the stack of résumés when you go for a job after the Marine Corps. Ask any seasoned managers and they will tell you, they are more willing to hire someone with military experience because they know they are more likely to be more productive and obedient. The experience and background you build from being in the Corps will set you up for the future if you conduct yourself wisely.

4)  The Uniform. Okay, so it’s not just the uniform, but you have to admit, it looks pretty darn good. Wear this around town and you will get countless compliments and thank you’s, not to mention the increase in potential dates ;-). But really what it is is the extreme sense of pride that comes with being a Marine. You will have the drive and opportunity to do things you never thought you could, and you have the capacity to really excel. You will always be able to wear the uniform with pride.

5) The Experience. While in the Marine Corps you will have the opportunity to do so much, and with a band of brothers that will stand by you and become closer to you than you ever imagined. You will be able to talk about your time in the Corps forever, and you will be able to connect with people you’ve never met simply because of what you were. You don’t find this kind of experience anywhere else.

So, if you couldn’t tell, much of what you get doesn’t exactly translate to $$$, and a lot of it is merely the potential to cash in on your opportunities. For example, I have a free ride and automatic admittance to Embry Riddle to get my degree, which I can finish by the end of my enlistment easily, but I have to apply myself. If all goes well, I can finish my enlistment with a strong business degree, 4 years of on the job experience, certifications in Office and other software suites, become multilingual, and have a discipline that will carry over to the rest of my life.

All in all, although there are plenty of things that suck about being in the Marine Corps, so far it has been a great ride, and there are many more great milestones yet to pass. I hope to reach as many as I can, as quickly as possible.

Peace.

Reasons why you shouldn’t bother joining the Marine Corps:

1) The Average Marine - At this point, many Marines who enlist in the Marine Corps come from criminal backgrounds or some similar situation where they were either forced by a courtroom to join or simply used this as a last resort. Of course, not all these people are bad people, but it certainly brings down how good the average Marine is. This makes living conditions worse (people steal stuff all the time) and over time has damaged our image with more stupid marines doing more stupid things.

2) Senior Marines - This goes for Officers as well as NCOs (Non-Commissioned Officers). Some are great, but for every good one you have, there is a bad one looking to bring you down. They will use their rank against you and you can’t say anything back. If you do, you risk losing paychecks and rank (which in turn means you lose money since it’s based on rank). All the good that the good people do cannot make up for lost pay. In other words, you have no “Freedom of Speech” rights here.

3) Student Status - They don’t care about you when you start off. They consider you the lowest of the low, and you have no say in your future, even if it would involve no sweat on their part, and no guarantee you will even have orders by the time you graduate. For example, out of school, if someone would benefit from being at a particular duty station and someone else has no preference, they should be able to be flexible and allow a switch. It is a simple accommodation that would boost morale at no cost to the Corps. But hey, you’re a student. You don’t know any better.

4) Free Medical - What? Free medical as a reason NOT to join? Yes. 100%. Sure, I just got these glasses for free, and they look nice, but it took me 2 months to get them. During that 2 months I couldn’t drive because my license requires that I have glasses (and in all honesty, I like being able to see when I drive). And I can’t tell you how many botched surgeries my friends have encountered, all in under 2 years of being in the Corps. And since it is free, we signed a waiver so we can’t sue for damages. I could go on and on about this one…

5) Content of Your Character - This is generally not something that is taken into account when anyone looks at you as a Marine. The first thing they look at is your Personal Fitness Test score, and the second thing is your Rifle score. Yes, I understand that every Marine should be of the standards of a basic rifleman, but this shouldn’t affect promotion in an MOS (job, essentially) that has nothing to do with sharpshooting or fitness, like repairing electrical components of aircraft or basic admin work. But do they take proof of academic ability into account in these MOSs? Almost not at all. And they wonder why they can’t keep smart people in the Marine Corps.

Despite these harsh criticisms, I have really liked my experience in the Corps so far, though I doubt I will re-enlist after the end of my current enlistment (which will be in 4 years). And this is coming from a quality Marine: meritoriously promoted to LCpl out of my first school for graduating top of the class with a first class PFT score, currently the holder of a 280/300 PFT score, and 1 point shy of an Expert rifle score, Class Leader in both schools, Squadron Guide in first school, Marine of the Month award in August, Assistant Duty Section Leader, and Deck Leader.

I push hard to get where I am, but there are plenty of quality Marines that get passed over for promotion or otherwise swept under the rug for stupid reasons where their efforts would most certainly be recognized in the civilian world. The reasons I have listed aren’t exactly reasons to not join in the first place, but for me they are glaring reasons why not to re-enlist or seek a commission (become an officer). Perhaps next week will see a more optimistic list…

So the iPhone is host to many Apps. These range from the useful Translators, Wikipedia searchers, and Dictionaries all the way to $1,000 apps that do nothing more than display a diamond! (I am serious!) But recently an app was released that any true nerd can enjoy, and simultaneously use to burn hours of possible productivity, the Ocarina!

Put out by iPhone app company Smule, the Ocarina has its recent popularity rooted in the game Zelda, spiking with the popularity of the game Ocarina of Time. The forum on the website is abuzz with people submitting music in the form of Ocarina Scores. There you will find music from the classic Zelda games, as well as portions of songs like Amazing Grace and Karma Police. I’m personally pulling for the Marine Corps Hymn to make its way into an Ocarina Score. Got my fingers crossed.

The core of the app is simple: blow into the microphone and use your fingers to plug the virtual holes that appear on the screen to create the 16 available notes (many different scales and tunings are available). Perhaps part of what makes this app so unique is that it incorporates a global map of everyone else playing their Ocarinas into a separate screen. You can listen in to anyone who permits it and hear as they either nail Taps, or butcher the intro to Carry on My Wayward Son.

It is really neat to see on the globe where people are playing from. Last night I listened in to someone from Sydney, Tokyo, Boston, San Diego, Rome, and Sweden. Very cool.

Given the viral popularity and low price (an easily fork-overable $0.99), this is certainly proving itself to be one of the definable apps on the iPhone, perhaps supplanting Tap Tap Revenge sometime in the near future? In any case, this ninja is completely convinced of this applications awesomeness. I give this app 5 ninja stars, and a strong recommendation to go out and get it!

Now pardon me, I need to go practice O Canada…

So there’s been a lot of criticism of McCain for a comment he made concerning our service members’ stay in Iraq. He said that he wasn’t as concerned about leaving Iraq as he was our safety in Iraq. His primary goal there is to sharply cut down the casualty rate. If this means that we’re there a bit longer, then so be it.

And you know what? I’m fine with that, for a few reasons. First of all, what would be so bad about being in Iraq if it was safe (which, statistically speaking, is not as far off as some might think)? Well, some would say that being deployed is bad. To that, all I have to say is, if you joined the armed forces, active or reserve, you should be more than ready to leave your home for 6 to 12 months at a time. If your marriage cannot handle such a departure, than either the Service is not for you, or you shouldn’t have gotten married in the first place.

Keep in mind, Iraq is simply a deployment. Just because someone gets sent to Iraq does not mean that they are out patrolling the streets, kicking down doors, shooting, getting shot at, and getting blown up. In fact, thousands of people deployed to Iraq do no more than their actual MOS (Military Occupational Specialty, which can range anywhere from actual infantry to a cook). Unless you are a Marine, you will most likely be stuck in Iraq performing the job you were trained to do, be that a cook, a water purification specialist, or intel, and the most dangerous thing you would do would be to go on a convoy from one station to another.

Additionally, what about Afghanistan? How come no one talks about Afghanistan? I’ll tell you why: the media. All they ever talk about is Iraq, which really isn’t that bad. It’s summer now, and the heat is scheduled to pick up in Afghanistan (yes, they are that lazy that they rest during the winter because it is cold, and when it is finally warm enough to do some attacking, they come out). In fact, troop levels there are on the rise, while levels in Iraq are stabilizing or seeing reductions. Perhaps not much attention is paid there because it’s so hard to spell. That must be it. It’s far simpler to type the four letter word “Iraq” than to go all out with one of the -Stans. I see how it is.

But on a serious note, how much research have you, yourself, done on the subject? Have you talked to any vets from this war? Even anyone in the active duty service at all?

I am a Marine. Active duty. Chances are fairly good that I will get sent over there within the next couple of years, and because I am a Marine, I could find myself out of my designated air wing fixing circuit boards, out doing patrols. So? This is what I signed up for. This is what we all signed up for. So, instead of focusing so much on a war that you really are not involved in, please focus on something that will really impact the country, like education, welfare, public transportation, alternative energy, etc. There is nothing I value more than a good education. That’s a good place to start. Somewhere that will impact our children’s future.

I say this because regardless of who the president is, the Iraq war will end. We will either stop getting killed or we will leave. But if we focus all this energy on Iraq, we forget about home, and the things that really matter to keep our country rolling.

Think about that as we move closer to the election. What is really important to you.

¨Every single combat death and injury sustained by our fighting forces is a deep loss. But those who decry the 4000 military deaths related to the liberation of Iraq as somehow a disproportionate historic disaster do not have much perspective. A Navy vet reader of AT who prefers anonymity has produced a graphic representation to supply some perspective:¨